Study Space Law This Summer With This Unique Online Course

Jealous of SpaceX’s Starman? Wish you too could take a road trip this summer in a Tesla Roadster around the moon? You may not be able spend your summer vacation in orbit (yet), but studying Space Law at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law’s new Global Space Law Center is just as exciting.

The law school is offering an online, three-credit hour course during the summer of 2018, “Space Law: A Global View,” which will cover the fundamentals of space law and how space law has evolved alongside the expansion of private and governmental space activity.

The course will be open to all law students both in the United States and internationally, to lawyers and other professionals with a connection or interest in the space industry, as well as to students or professionals in other disciplines.

The director of the Global Space Law Center, Professor Mark J. Sundahl, a leading international space lawyer, will teach the course. The course will also feature guest lectures and interviews with thought leaders from government and industry.

“Now is a particularly good time to study space law because we live in a period of tremendous growth in the space industry,” explained Sundahl. “With ongoing rapid development of space laws and regulations, both domestically and internationally, there is a need for lawyers who understand these laws and can put them into action.”

Students in the course will have flexibility to complete the pre-recorded online learning modules according to their own schedules, which will allow for international students to participate in any time zone.

Sundahl is enthusiastic about this opportunity to attract a diverse collection of international students. “Asynchronous courses often increase student engagement and participation and we expect that from this course,” said Sundahl. “By organizing this course in a way to allow for international participation, we can attract a collection of students that truly captures the international nature of space law.”

Students enrolling in the course will receive a broad education in space law that will cover, among other topics, the international treaties that govern the activities of nations in space and the domestic regulations that play a major role in shaping private space activity. The course will explore the many types of space activity and will examine how the law has evolved to regulate the new space industries, including space tourism, on-orbit satellite repair, and asteroid mining.

In addition, the course will cover specific issues, including satellite telecommunication, remote sensing, space-based navigation systems, the military use of space, liability for damage caused by space objects, questions of jurisdiction, the rescue and return of astronauts, property rights, environmental law, the allotment of orbital slots, the financing of space ventures, and contracting practices in space-related transactions.

“Students will take away an understanding of the complexity of existing space law and the importance of understanding new developments in space law that will facilitate new activities in space,” said Sundahl. “After completing the course, students will be prepared to work in the space industry.”

The course will begin on May 21 and run through a final exam taken either July 11 or July 12, according to student preference.

Earlier this year, Cleveland-Marshall Law founded the Global Space Law Center and, by doing so, became the first law school in the United States to create a research center dedicated exclusively to the study of the law of outer space.